Round 2 2014
West Coast were ruthless in their demolition of a mediocre Demons side, holding them to a single goal for the first half and going into halftime with an insurmountable lead, making the second half a training drill. Luke Shuey excelled with two goals to go with his 30 touches, and Josh Kennedy kicked four goals in his 100th Eagles appearance. Summary 'Goals: '''Kennedy 4, Darling 3, LeCras, Masten, Shuey 2, Cripps, MacKenzie, Naitanui, Rosa, Sinclair '''Best: '''Shuey, Gaff, Masten, Kennedy, Selwood, Priddis, Naitanui, Darling '''Injuries: '''Hurn (knee) '''Sub: '''Sheppard for Hurn (knee) at quarter time '''Milestones: '''Kennedy 100th WCE game Named side In: Sheppard Out: Sheed Quarter by quarter West Coast made just the one change, with Brad Sheppard coming in as the substitute in place of Dom Sheed. Youngster Jay Kennedy-Harris started in the green vest for Melbourne. The match began in bright sunshine at the MCG. 1st term The ball was camped in West Coast's forward half early, with Darling and Wellingham missing opportunities. It took a turnover by Melbourne in the centre of the ground to lead to the Eagles' first, with Darling passing over the top to an unmarked Shuey. From the next bounce Selwood hit a leading Kennedy who converted. Darling added a third goal after a mark inside 50 and Sinclair hit the post on the run before Cripps snapped a goal on another fast break as West Coast led 28-0. It wasn't all good news early though, as Hurn headed to the bench with a leg injury and was joined by Brown under the blood rule. Melbourne dominated territory for a period but put just one point on the board, as Hurn returned to the ground with his right knee heavily strapped. A lengthy back and forth followed, before Kennedy received a free kick in a marking contest but was unable to goal. MacKenzie bombed through a goal from outside 50 after receiving the ball from Hurn as West Coast improved their lead to 34 points. It got to 40 points on the siren as Naitanui was manhandled in a marking contest and put his free kick through the middle. 2nd term Hurn was in the red vest as the second quarter started. It began as an arm wrestle before Masten was able to run onto a kick inside 50 and snap the goal. LeCras then snapped one of his own to push the margin to 52 points. Melbourne finally got a goal through ex-Cat Shannon Byrnes. A clever tap by Naitanui in the goalsquare was muffed by LeCras but Kennedy was on hand to soccer it through. Poor skills were on show by both sides - a Wellingham miskick led to a Demons chance but Jack Watts muffed an easy mark, Sheppard turned the ball over in the middle after a wayward running bounce, Shuey elected to square to Kennedy rather than kick on goal from the pocket but a defender was able to spoil. Finally a wobbly Masten kick went untouched over the back of a pack and ran through for a goal. Sinclair had a chance shortly afterwards but hit the post on the run. Despite Shuey, Masten and Rosa winning plenty of the ball in the middle West Coast were unable to find an avenue to goal, and the first half ended with the Eagles in front by 58. 3rd term Another arm-wrestle to start the third quarter with neither side able to impact the scoreboard. Sheppard came off second best in a friendly fire collision with Gaff, but was able to shake it off and continue. Darling tried to burn off an opponent to run into goal but was pulled up for running too far. Some desperate pressure from Kennedy forced a Cam Pedersen shot out on the full. Sinclair sent three Dees sprawling with a towering contested mark and squeezed his kick through to finally get the scoring started. Melbourne defended desperately as West Coast pushed inside 50, and it took a beautiful threaded kick from the boundary line by Darling to break through for another goal. A pinpoint Ellis pass gave Kennedy a shot from outside 50, and he just made the distance for a goal (confirmed by a score review). Kennedy added his fourth shortly afterwards when Yeo intercepted a Demons' kick inside 50 and the 100-gamer got on the end of the fast break, putting the margin out to 83 points. Byrnes kicked Melbourne's second goal late in the term after some hard work by skipper Nathan Jones. Cox had a chance to answer at the other end but his clever dribbled kick from the boundary just went the wrong side of the goalpost. Cripps did the same after a 1-2 with LeCras, and the third term ended with West Coast ahead by a commanding 78 points. 4th term LeCras won the ball out of the centre, then was front and centre when a Sheppard shot was contested in the goalsquare to soccer it through. Melbourne answered at the other end through sub Kennedy-Harris who got in space and received a kick over the top. Priddis won a free kick after dragging down Jones, but Shuey's kick went wide. He made amends minutes later by curling one around brilliantly out of a stoppage for his second goal. Kennedy-Harris and Daniel Cross missed opportunities before rookie Jimmy Toumpas kicked Melbourne's fourth goal of the day. Cripps won a holding-the-ball decision after a Demons opponent dragged the ball in, but sprayed his shot. As the heat went out of the contest, West Coast continued to pepper the goals and eventually got rewarded when Rosa received from Shuey at a stoppage and put it through from 40m. With time about to expire, LeCras pumped the ball to the top of the square where Darling marked and converted after the siren to make the final margin 93 points. From the papers The West Australian "West Coast set up their win with a dominant first term in which they kicked six goals to nil and didn't lose a centre-bounce hit-out or clearance. ...Simpson said it was important to maintain perspective. "We're pleased with the result. But it's a long year and we haven't really been thrown into the deep end and tested just yet. I'm sure that's coming," he said. "I don't want to sound disrespectful to Melbourne or the Bulldogs, but there's still things that we review that aren't where we want to be."" The Age "Melbourne was trying to play to a plan, trying to hold the Eagles up and move the ball on the rebound. The players were trying to possess it and hold it and move the ball by stealth – the Demons finished the game with six more possessions and had more time with the ball in their hands (53 per cent). But their ability to play to a plan was confounded by the absence of a forward line to accept the ball, or to run deep and searchingly to be there to link the play. It meant they hung on and waited and had nowhere to go. It was confounded by the abject lack of skill shown routinely through the game, in part this was lack of confidence, in part lack of vision, in part lack of ability, but 11 Eagles goals came from turnovers." East Perth report East Perth came from behind to beat Swan Districts 16.13.109 to 14.7.91. Adam Carter had a strong game, as did Dom Sheed in his first game in Royals colours, while Fraser McInnes kicked 3 goals. Will Schofield was solid as well, but was reported for a strike on Swan debutant Aidan Anderson. Appearing for East Perth: Brennan, Butler, Carter, Hill(*first East Perth appearance), Lycett, McGinnity*, McGovern, McInnes, Schofield, Sheed*, Smith, Wilson. Reserves: Karpany, Maginness, Main Injury list In the lead-up to the match the following players were listed as injured: Links http://afltables.com/afl/stats/games/2014/111820140330.html http://www.afl.com.au/match-centre/2014/2/melb-v-wce Craig O'Donohue, ''The West Australian (31 March 2014) "High praise for Eagles after mauling": https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/sport/a/22269857/high-praise-for-eagles-after-mauling/ Michael Gleeson, The Age (30 March 2014) "Demons in massive loss to Eagles": http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-match-report/demons-in-massive-loss-to-eagles-20140330-zqoqo.html 2014 02 2014 02